


High School Crush

by orphan_account



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, High School Reunion, Lamen Week 2020, M/M, this idea is ridiculous but bear with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24866116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lamen Week - Day 2 : Modern AUNicaise forces Laurent to attend their high school reunion, but it doesn’t end up being as bad as Laurent thought it would.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 90





	High School Crush

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try something for Lamen Week, and if the theme of the first day didn’t inspire me at all, the theme of the second day, Modern AU, gave me this ridiculous idea of a high school reunion
> 
> I spent the past four hours writing that and posted it right after finishing it, so it isn’t proofread in any way, sorry

“High school reunions are stupid,” Laurent said as he carefully selected his outfit for the high school reunion.

He didn’t want to go but Nicaise insisted and it was hard to refuse Nicaise anything. 

“Of course it is,” said the source of all of Laurent’s current problems. “But it’s fun. You get to see what people became.”

“I don’t care what those assholes became Nic. They made my high school years even shittier than they already were. I could go on with my life perfectly fine without seeing any of them ever again.”

“But aren’t you curious? Don’t you wanna know what your dear quarterback is doing with his life.”

Laurent pinched the bridge of his nose. It had been ten years and Nicaise was  _ still _ teasing him about that? Sweet Jesus. 

He thought Nicaise had forgotten. Not that he ever did. You don’t forget a boy like this. 

“He was never  _ my _ dear quarterback,” Laurent answered with his most bored voice as he settled on a simple pair of black jeans and a printed button up shirt. Auguste’s wife had bought it for him and he’d never worn it, he wasn’t fond of patterns, but a regular shirt would be too formal and he would not be seen outside his apartment wearing a tee-shirt. 

“Sure,” Nicaise snorted. 

Laurent ignored him. “Besides, I know what he’s doing with his life. His daddy bought his way into college and then hired him in his own company. Now he’s married with his high school sweetheart and they have a couple kids. Perfect, cliché private school golden boy life. Now could you stop wasting my oxygen and let me change?”

“It’s nothing I’ve never seen,” Nicaise said, his eyes going up and down Laurent’s body.

“Leave. You should be getting ready too anyway.”

“Yes, mom.”

Nicaise sighed exaggeratedly, but still left the room. Laurent was right, he had to get ready.

…

Nicaise had decided wearing makeup was a good move. He wasn’t wearing a lot, just eyeliner and highlighter, but it was already much more than a man should wear in the opinion of the people they went to high school with. During the whole drive, Laurent tried convincing him to take his makeup off but Nicaise was a stubborn little shit so the makeup stayed on.

“If they give you dirty looks all night, don’t come and complain,” Laurent said as he got out of the car. 

“I handled four years of being called a fag every single day. I’m pretty sure I can handle a few dirty looks. They would have given me dirty looks even if I didn’t wear makeup anyway. And it’s not like you’re any better than me. No straight man ever wore a satin button up with floral print. You could have just wrote ‘gay’ on your forehead, it wouldn’t have been much different”.

“Touché,” Laurent sighed, looking at the gym of his old school.

He really, really,  _ really _ didn’t want to be there. High school wasn’t something he remembered fondly at all. Nicaise wasn’t the only one who had been called names for years. In truth, back then, everyone believed they were a couple. 

Maybe they were.

Their relationship was confusing, even to them, so they couldn’t blame others for being confused.

“Do we pretend to be a couple? I’m sure half of those people are against gay marriage. I’d love to see the rage in their eyes if I introduce you as my husband.”

“I’d like to get out of there alive, so no. Let’s keep it friendly.”

Usually, Nicaise would have put up a fight but he knew it was hard enough for Laurent without adding any other difficulty, so he nodded. “As you wish. It may be better actually. I can’t decently look for someone to hook up with if I’m married,” he winked as he started strolling up to the entrance. 

Laurent followed him, apprehension turning his stomach. He didn’t like being around people to begin with, but being around people he knew he disliked could only be worse. 

“Do you really want to fuck one of them? I thought you had standards.”

“Who knows, maybe some of them got hot. Some of them were already hot back then. I was just to shy to go down on them at the time. Contrary to  _ someone else _ .”

“For God’s sake Nicaise it happened  _ once _ and I was  _ high _ .”

Sometimes, he really wish he had another best friend. A best friend who didn’t go to high school with him and didn’t know all of his embarrassing high school stories. 

“Yeah, sure.”

“Oh fuck you.”

“Anytime, baby.”

Laurent rolled his eyes at him as they reached the doors of the gym. He took a deep breath before turning at Nicaise, who gave him a comforting smile “It’s gonna be okay. You’re hotter, richer, and more successful than any of those bastards.” And he pushed the door. 

It took Laurent a few seconds to follow him, and as soon as he did, he felt overwhelmed. 

He didn’t think the strange smell of his old high school’s gym was something his brain had taken in, but apparently it had because the odour smelled familiar, in a very terrible way. 

He had been beaten up with this smell floating around. 

And the people… there were so many of them ; Nicaise and him were probably some of the last to arrive. 

“Nic, I want to go home.”

“Not yet, we just arrived. Let’s go around the room and try to guess what people are doing now.”

“And then we go ask them to see how wrong we were?”

“Yep. It’ll be fun. And maybe we’ll see your quarterback.”

“He’s  _ not _ my quarterback.”

…

Laurent had to admit, it was actually fun to try and guess people’s lives. They had made one of the theater kids a serial killer who was planning to murder someone here and hide the body somewhere in school. Nicaise had described very precisely how the murder would happen and Laurent had tried very hard not to laugh when they had talked to him and found out he was a detective now. Then they had guessed one of the ex cheerleaders had dropped put of college because she was pregnant with an older man’s child and had married him, and they had been scarily right. 

But now Laurent really needed a drink to get through any more minute of this. And Nicaise was busy flirting so Laurent could escape to the bar in peace. 

That’s when he saw him.

He really wished his heart hadn’t accelerated the way it did. It was embarrassing to still be so flustered by this man a decade later, but here he was. 

In all fairness, anyone would be flustered by Damen Akielos. He was sculpted like a Greek god, tall and muscular -the tight shirt he was wearing did  _ wonders _ to those muscles-, he had eyes full of life and a smile that could light up a room. 

And now he even had long hair, that he had tied up in a bun. Laurent was going to pass out. 

He had probably been staring for a while because he heard a deep voice say “Hello?”

Laurent flushed. He often caught people staring at him, but never the contrary. “Hello,” he said, keeping his voice as neutral as he could. 

“You want a drink? I’m sorry I’m blocking the way,” Damen said, stepping aside to leave room next to him. 

“You’re twice as broad as anyone else here, of course you’re blocking the way.”

Flirting on point, Laurent, congrats. He considered running away. Instead, he walked to the bar, and ordered a martini, keeping his eyes on Damen almost the whole time to make sure the man wouldn’t start a conversation with someone else.

“Well, working out does that to a person,” Damen answered, with a smile, not offended at all.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m not the sporty type. Actually, the farther I am from a gym, the happier I am.”

“You musn’t be happy here tonight then.”

The bartender served Laurent his drink, and Laurent immediately gulped down half of it. “No, I’m not,” he said as he put his glass down. “But it’s not just the gym. It’s everything. Being back in high school. The people. The alcohol. I don’t usually drink, I hate it, but I couldn’t survive here if I didn’t.”

It’s more sentences than he told Damen in four years of high school, but he wasn’t sure he minded. He had drank half a bottle of vodka before coming, just to be able to get in the car and let Nicaise drag him here, and alcohol made him talkative. 

“Why did you come then?”

“My best friend forced me.”

“Your best friend…?”

“Oh, of course you don’t remember us. We were too invisible for the popular people unless they were the ones bullying us and you weren’t one of those,” Laurent snorted. 

It wasn’t exactly false, but it wasn’t exactly true either. Nicaise and him were friends with some popular people. Well, it was because they could sell them drugs, but still. They had had good times with Vannes and Ancel. None of them were her today. They thought they were too good for high school reunions, probably. 

“I do remember you, actually. You’re the guy who sucked Lazar off at homecoming,” Damen said, laughter in his voice. 

“I really wish I wasn’t remember for that,” Laurent grunted.

“Well, I don’t only remember you for that, but I must say it was quite memorable. The whole school only talked about that for weeks.”

“Yes, I know, thank you very much. Can we not talk about it? It’s a high school reunion, aren’t we all here to find out what people became? So tell me what you’re doing with your life. Oh, no, let me guess. You’re married with that girl you were dating back then. You have children with her and you live in a big house in a rich neighborhood. You work a good job in your father’s company.”

Damen laughed and Laurent tried very hard not to react to that. He was so gorgeous, and his laugh was like music to Laurent’s ears. 

Secretly, he wished he was all wrong. At least on the married part. 

“Congrats, you couldn’t be more wrong.”

“Oh really? So you don’t have the cliché life all high school athletes have?”

“Far from it, actually. Are you sure you want me to tell you, though? Wouldn’t you be better with your friend?”

He was probably trying to escape the conversation. Of course he was. Why would he want to waste his time with Laurent?

“Oh, no. He’s trying to find someone who’d be up for a quickie. He’ll be pissed if I interrupt him. I’m all free until he comes and find me to leave.”

Now he just sounded desperate to have someone to spend time with. Great. You’re  _ so good  _ at this, Laurent.

He hated himself sometimes.

“I guess we have plenty of time to talk then,” Damen said softly. 

It took Laurent aback. He was so convinced Damen was trying to get rid of him. Not that he was complaining, though.

“I guess. Are you going to tell me then? What had Mr Quarterback become?”

“Well, Mr Quarterback is kind of a mess, to be honest. I do have a job, I’m not that pathetic. I’m a preschool teacher. I have a nice apartment, so it’s not that bad, but it’s my best friend I share him with, not a wife. And I don’t have children.”

Laurent takes another sips of his drink as he listens to Damen talking. He usually hated small talk but it was this absolute God of a man who was doing small talk so he would gladly handle it. For hours, even, if it meant he had Damen’s attention focused on him. 

He had wanted this so badly when he was a teenager. It was like a dream come true. 

“When you said a mess I was expecting something worse. Your life seems fine.”

“It’s really not. That’s just the okay part. I just need more alcohol to talk about the not okay part,” Damen said as he snapped to get the bartender’s attention. 

He ordered a beer and drank a couple sips when he received it. Laurent looked at the movement of his throat as he swallowed. 

It was probably a creepy thing to do but he didn’t care. 

“You know, the life you described for me, it’s the life I wanted. The life I thought I’d have, for a very long time. I was actually working for my father, after college. And I had a fiancé. Jokaste, the girl I was dating in high school. You probably remember her, she was something.”

“She was. And you two were prom queen and king in senior year.”

A fond, nostalgic smile appeared on Damen’s lips.

“Yeah, we were. And so after high school we stayed together, for quite long. So of course I proposed to her. That’s the normal thing to do. It made sense to propose after years of relationship. Anyway, she said yes, and I was the happiest man on earth. We planned our whole wedding, and I found out a week before the big day that she had been cheating on me. With my brother. And that she was pregnant with his child.”

Damen drank the rest of his beer all at once under Laurent’s shocked gaze. He surely wasn’t expecting that.

“What kind of bitch cheats on their fiancé, and with their brother on top of that.”

“Well, my ex. But I’m happy for her, you know. Kastor -that’s my brother by the way- and her are good for each other, and my nephew is a sweetheart so it’s not that bad but yeah, she kind of fucked me up. But eh, at least, I didn’t marry her.” he sneered. 

“God you’re so good. If someone have fucked me over like that I’d have hated their guts.”

Damen shrugged. “I don’t hold grudges, and I generally don’t hate people unless they’re really a horrible person. Hate is such a strong feeling. To me it’s like love. You can’t say you really love a lot of people. So you can’t say you really hate a lot of people. Anyway, I didn’t come here to mope about my ex. I’ve done that enough. Tell me about yourself. You were so smart, you must have done great things.”

“I don’t think so. Not in the way you mean it anyway. I’m not a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer or any of those jobs parents dream of for their kids. I own an art gallery. Mostly I’m in charge of the gallery, but I also expose some of my paintings there.”

“Oh my God, that’s amazing!” Damen exclaimed, and it sounded genuine. Laurent flushed. Most people frowned when he talked about his job. He had always been top of his class, came from a family of intellectuals, he was expected to pursue a more “respectable” career. “Artists impress me so much. I can’t even draw stick figures properly,” Damen laughed.

Laurent smiled. 

…

They kept talking about their jobs, their hobbies, their friends while drinking drink after drink, until they were both drunk enough to start spilling their embarrassing secrets. “I had a crush on you back in high school you know,” Laurent said, one arm swung around Damen’s shoulders, his face so close to his that their breaths were mixing together.

Damen choked on his drink from chuckling. “Oh did you?” 

“Hm, hm. I mean were very attractive. You still are. And you were nice, for a jock. I don’t think you ever called me a faggot, which is honestly extraordinary considering at least 97% of the people in this room did.”

“The bar is so fucking low if you consider that being nice. Besides, it’d have been hypocritical of me to be homophobic. I’m bi.”

This time, Laurent was the one choking on his drink. If there was something he wasn’t expecting, it was to hear that Damen was into men. It’s not that he didn’t “look” the part, Laurent knew it was bullshit to judge people’s sexualities from their looks, but every time he talked about his exes, he talked about women, so Laurent had assumed he was straight. 

“Are you know?”

“Yeah. Surprised?”

“Well, I’m just sad I didn’t shoot my shot when I was 16 and obsessed with you.”

Damen caught Laurent’s eyes, letting him drown in his brown irises, before he whispered “You may not be 16 and obsessed with me anymore, but you could shoot your shot now.”

And Laurent turned into a puddle. Damen was telling him he was interested. Damen Akielos, the hottest man he had ever had the chance to lay eyes on, was interested in him. 

Laurent didn’t care if it was just for a hookup or if it was for more.

Damen was interested in him.

It was the best day of his fucking life. He couldn’t even bring himself to care about how pathetic he was for still crushing on his high school crush.

“Come with me,” he said in a rare show of spontaneity and boldness, grabbing Damen’s hand and dragging him behind him.

They crossed the room in a few seconds, some people giving them curious looks Laurent didn’t even notice, and as soon as they were far enough that the loud music was only a faint echo, Laurent stepped on his toes to press his lips against Damen’s. It was wet and sloppy and so different from the slow kissed Laurent was used to, but it was good,  _ so _ good. Damen’s body was warm against his, his arms strong around Laurent’s waist. When they had to break the kiss to breathe, Damen leaned his forehead against Laurent’s. “Wow,” Laurent couldn’t help but say, making Damen laugh. 

“Was it that good?”

“Well, not that I haven’t kissed enough people to really compare, but yes, it was good. But I’m sure something else could be even better.”

It was hard to see in the dim light and with his complexion, but Laurent was sure Damen had blushed. 

“What do you have in mind?” he asked a little breathless.

Laurent gave him his best attempt at a seductive smile as he freed himself from Damen’s arms. He hated pulling away from Damen’s warm embrace, but he knew what he was about to do would feel so much better. Locking his eyes on Damen’s, Laurent slowly went down on his knees. He heard Damen stopped breathing as he understood what Laurent was planning. 

Carefully, to make sure he wouldn’t touch Damen’s erection, Laurent undid the button of Damen’s jeans.

“Lazar won’t be the only guy I blew in that damn school, now.” 


End file.
